Raunkiær plant life-form

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Raunkiær system is a system for categorising plants using life-form categories, devised by Christen C. Raunkiær. It was first proposed in a talk to the Danish Botanical Society in 1904 and briefly described in the society's journal Botanisk Tidsskrift[1][2]. A fuller account appeared in French the following year[3]. Raunkiær elaborated further on the system and published this in Danish in 1907[4][5]. The original note and the 1907 paper were much later translated to English and published with Raunkiær's collected works[2][5][6].

Raunkiær's life-form scheme has subsequently been revised and modified by various authors[7][8], but the main structure has survived.

Raunkiær's life forms: 1. Phanerophyte. 2-3. Chamaephytes. 4. Hemicryptophyte. 5-6. Geophytes (cryptophytes). 7. Helophyte. 8-9. Hydrophytes. Therophyte and epiphyte not shown
Raunkiær's life forms:
1. Phanerophyte.
2-3. Chamaephytes.
4. Hemicryptophyte.
5-6. Geophytes (cryptophytes).
7. Helophyte.
8-9. Hydrophytes.
Therophyte and epiphyte not shown


The subdivisions of the Raunkiær system are based on the location of the plant's growth-point (bud) during seasons with adverse conditions (cold seasons, dry seasons):

Phanerophytes 
Projecting into the air on stems – normally woody perennials - with resting buds more than 25 cms above soil level, e.g. trees and shrubs, but also epiphytes, which Raunkiær separated out as a special group in later versions of the system. May be further subdivided according to plant height in megaphanerophytes, mesophanerophytes and nanophanerophytes and other characterssuch as duration of leaves (evergreen or deciduous), presence of covering bracts on buds, succulence and epiphytism.
Chamaephytes 
Buds on persistent shoots near the ground – woody plants with perennating buds borne close to the ground, no more than 25 cms above soil surface, e.g. bilberry and periwinkle.
Hemicryptophytes 
Buds at or near the soil surface , e.g. daisy, dandelion.
Protohemicryptophytes 
only stem leaves
Partial rosette plants 
both stem and basal rosette leaves
Rosette plants 
only basal rosette leaves
Cryptophytes 
Below ground or under water - with resting buds lying either beneath the surface of the ground as a rhizome, bulb, corm, etc., or a resting bud submerged under water. Cryptophytes are divided into 3 groups:
Geophytes 
Resting in dry ground, e.g. crocus, tulip. May be further subdivided into rhizome, stem-tuber, root-tuber, bulb and root geophytes.
Helophytes 
Resting in marshy ground, e.g. reedmace, marsh-marigold.
Hydrophytes 
Resting by being submerged under water, e.g. water-lily, frogbit.
Therophytes 
Annual plants which survive the unfavourable season in the form of seeds and completes its life-cycle during favourable seasons.

Annual species are therophytes. Many desert plants are by necessity therophytes.

Aerophytes 
New addition to the Raunkiaer lifeform classification. Plant that obtains moisture (though not through haustorium), and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on other plants but not parasitic on it [9].



[edit] References

  1. ^ Raunkiær, C. (1904) Om biologiske Typer, med Hensyn til Planternes Tilpasninger til at overleve ugunstige Aarstider. Botanisk Tidsskrift 26, p. XIV.
  2. ^ a b Ch. 1 in Raunkiær (1934): Biological types with reference to the adaption of plants to survive the unfavourable season, p. 1.
  3. ^ Raunkiær, C. (1905) Types biologiques pour la géographie botanique. Oversigt over Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1905, 347-438.
  4. ^ Raunkiær, C. (1907) Planterigets Livsformer og deres Betydning for Geografien. Gyldendalske Boghandel - Nordisk Forlag, København and Kristiania. 132 pp.
  5. ^ a b Ch. 2 in Raunkiær (1934): The life-forms of plants and their bearings on geography, p. 2-104.
  6. ^ Raunkiær, C. (1934) The Life Forms of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography, being the collected papers of C. Raunkiær. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Reprinted 1978 (ed. by Frank N. Egerton), Ayer Co Pub., in the "History of Ecology Series". ISBN 0405104189
  7. ^ Müller-Dombois, D. & H. Ellenberg (1974) Aims and methods in vegetation ecology. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Reprint 2003, Blackburn Press, ISBN 1930665733
  8. ^ Shimwell, D.W. (1971) The Description and Classification of Vegetation. Sidgwick & Jackson, London.
  9. ^ Galán de Mera, A., M. A. Hagen & J. A. Vicente Orellana (1999) Aerophyte, a New Life Form in Raunkiaer's Classification? Journal of Vegetation Science 10 (1): 65-68

[edit] See also